It's Good To Be Home
by JacqBear
Summary: In this story they're all human. Jonathon is alive and not a creep, Sebastian too. They're all friends and in high school, Jace used to be part of the group but moved away and now he's back - more detailed summary inside - rated M just to be safe
1. He's Back

**Summary :** So all the kids grew up together; Alec and Izzy Lightwood, Sebastian Verlac and his cousin Aline Penhallow, Simon Lewis, Jonathon and Clary Morgenstern, Magnus Bane, Jace Herondale and Maia Sanchez (Can't remember if her last name was ever mentioned in the book or not). They're all normal kids in high school and they're really close. Clary and Jon's dad died when they were little and their mother married Luke. Jace is forced to move away because his father gets a promotion. While he's gone he only keeps in touch with Alec, after a few years he comes home and everything has changed, but it's still the same too. The girls are all grown up and gorgeous, Alec and Magnus are dating, Simon's in love with Izzy and Clary has a boyfriend. Their group are the popular ones, the people everyone loves and wants to be around or be with.

**Disclaimer :** I don't own anything - except the plot line, that's all me ;)

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**It's Good to be Home**

**Chapter 1 : He's Back **

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**- Jace's POV -**

Jace was in his room lying on his bed just staring at the ceiling thinking about tomorrow. Would she be happy to see him? Would she yell and scream at him, or would she just ignore him and pretend he didn't exist. He wouldn't really be able to blame her if her reaction was one of the latter. Just thinking about seeing her again after all this time had him feeling excited, anxious, happy and terrified all at once.

A knock at his door brought him out of his reverie, it was his mother "Sweetie, are you all unpacked?"

"Yeah, I finished a while ago."

She walked into the room and sat beside him on the bed, she smiled and asked, "Are you excited about tomorrow?"

A quick flare of worry flashed in his eyes before he said, "Yeah, it'll be nice seeing everyone again."

His mother had seen his worry and said "Don't worry, they're still your friends. I'm sorry that we couldn't get here sooner so you could've had some time to get reacquainted with everyone before school started. At least we got here in time so you wouldn't miss the first day."

That was definitely true, although why he and his mother couldn't come early and set things up while his father closed up the house he wasn't sure. Seeing her anywhere other than the hallways of the high school for the first time would have been preferable. He just smiled at his mother and said "Don't worry about it Mom, it'll all be fine."

She stood up, gave him a kiss on the forehead and said, "All right sweetheart, get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night."

"Goodnight, I love you."

"Yeah me too."

She just smiled at him and closed the door. Once he was alone again he began to worry about everyone else's reactions to seeing him again. Sure they had all grown up together and were a tight little group, but he had been forced to move away three years ago when his father got a promotion. The only person he really spoke to while he was gone was Alec. He didn't know why he lost touch with everyone else; it just seemed easier to talk to one person instead of nine. He knew if they wanted to know anything they could just ask Alec and he could too. Which is exactly what he did.

Izzy, Alec's little sister was still Izzy. Although, not long after he left she filled out and became completely boy crazy, which drives Alec nuts. Alec finally told his parents he was gay and was dating Magnus, no surprise there. He was finally happy in his own skin, not having to carry that secret around and hide from his parents made life easier for him. Sebastian, Jon and Simon were all sports gods along with Alec, which made them popular with the opposite sex. Aline, Sebastian's cousin had filled out just like Izzy and had caused a little uproar when she told her parents that she was bi-sexual the year after he left. She had been going back and forth, first dating a guy, then when she got bored she'd find a girl she liked. The gang totally accepted her, no surprise, but it was driving her parents insane. Maia had grown up quite a bit too, she was the only one among the girls that played sports, but that didn't stop the guys from wanting her. According to Alec, all of the girls in their group had grown up quite nicely, major hotties, keeping all of the guys on their toes making sure no one tried to take advantage of them. After all, the guys had grown up with all of them, so it didn't matter if they were actually related or not, they were all seen as little sisters.

One subject I rarely asked him about was her. Hearing that she was happy and didn't miss me wasn't something that I wanted to hear. Of course, hearing that she was miserable without me wasn't something I wanted to hear either. So the safest course was simply not to ask. Of course, since we were all so close, when he would be telling me about someone else she would be involved in the story too, so the subject wasn't completely avoidable.

Even though I was anxious about their reactions, I had to admit it was good to be home and it would definitely be interesting going to school with all of them again. Alec, Jon and Magnus were going to be Seniors, lucky bastards. Sebastian and Maia were going to be Juniors just like me. Izzy, Aline, Simon and her were all going to be Sophomores. I hoped it would be easy to slide back into my old life with my friends, but I doubted it would.

My father spoke with the football coach and got me a tryout with the team tomorrow after school, one thing I wasn't nervous about. The thought of not making the team was absolutely idiotic, I mean, come on, I'm a god. Absolute perfection. The coach would be an idiot not to give me the starting QB slot. It'd be nice to be on a team with the guys again and the tryout would definitely give me something to look forward to and help me get through the day.

After a few more hours of my mind racing about what was going to happen tomorrow sleep finally came to me. As I found oblivion I saw her face and once again she starred in my dreams.

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**- Clary's POV -**

After dinner I went to my room to draw for a while, it usually calmed me down and helped all the craziness in my head stop. The first day of school was tomorrow, I didn't really see the big deal. Izzy and the girls were excited to be going back to school because they would be surround by boys and in Aline's case girls too. Summer was fun but Izzy complained because she didn't have enough of a variety of boys to choose from. I was just waiting for the day when Izzy realized Simon was in love with her.

Maybe the only reason it was so completely obvious to me is because he's my best guy friend. I had noticed it and decided to ask him about it one day. He tried to deny it, but I wouldn't let him. He finally came clean and swore me to secrecy, reluctantly I agreed. Although, this summer things seemed to change, Izzy was more aware of Simon and whenever we were together as a group she was always close by him. Maybe she was finally realizing what a great guy he was. I mean, all of the guys in our group are hot and the amount of attention my brother gets from the stupid girls at school has forced me to admit that he is too. But, they're all good guys too. They're smart, funny and not total asses like some of the guys at our school.

Maia and Sebastian have been acting cozy with each other too and it would be great if they got together. But if Aline and my brother decided to get together too that would leave me surround by couples. I suppose that wouldn't be so bad if they were all happy together and since Kyle is kinda technically my boyfriend, as Izzy continually tells me, all of them being together shouldn't bother me.

Kyle and I have been seeing each other since the end of my freshman year, he's in the same grade as Sebastian and Maia. He's also on the football team with the guys. The relationship isn't really that serious, we've hung out, held hands and kissed but that's about it. I know he wants more but I'm just not sure and I'm definitely not ready to go any farther with him then we already have. Whenever I actually stop to think about it and why I stop myself from getting serious with anyone I always see his face. I haven't really dated much, sure guys are interested but they just aren't him. I suppose I could follow Izzy and Aline's example and simple choose a guy because he's hot, but that's just not me.

When I heard a knock on my door I jumped and looked down at my sketchpad and realized I had drawn his face again. All I could think was 'Dammit, not again!' I hurried to close it and push the pad under my pillow when Jon came in.

He was smiling and had his phone in his hand "Alec just called. Apparently Magnus, Izzy and Aline are far too excited about school starting and have decided we need to have a party Friday night to celebrate."

I started laughing and said, "What a surprise, and I bet Alec is just thrilled with the idea of a party."

He sat down on the bed next to me and said, "I've never heard him so excited."

Poor Alec, he would much rather prefer a quite night, but that would never happen. Not with Magnus as his boyfriend and Izzy as his sister. I smiled and asked "So where's the party going to be?"

"At Magnus' his parents are out of town and won't be back for a week. Some business trip for his father and his mother went along to keep him company. So, yet again, he has the house all to himself and you know how much he likes the quite and the solitude."

We both laughed, Magnus loved being surrounded by people and being the center of attention. The exact opposite of Alec, but that's what made them work so well together. Magnus helped bring Alec out of his shell and Alec helped tame Magnus. "What time is the party going to start?"

"Around 9 and once its over the gang is just gonna stay the night there and use the pool on Saturday."

"Sounds good, although I don't think they're gonna give any of us a choice about going."

Jon laughed and said, "True, our presence is mandatory. So . . . are you gonna bring Kyle?"

Jon was never comfortable talking to me about boys. He would prefer me to stay his sweet, naïve and innocent little sister and never show an interest in the opposite sex. Of course that didn't stop him from asking for advice about his relationships, which I always thought was kinda funny. I just smiled at him and said, "I don't know."

"Oh, so . . . um, does that, I mean, um, are you guys doing ok?"

I tried to hold back a laugh and stared at the floor because I knew if I looked at his face I would loose it "We're fine."

He hesitated for a minute, probably trying to decide if he should push it or not. I heard him stand up and he kissed me on my head and said, "All right, it's getting late, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

I looked up at him and said "Night."

Once he was gone I pulled my sketchpad out and looked at the picture. Why had I drawn his face again? It had been so long since the last time, why now? I threw my sketchpad on the floor, shut off my light and laid down trying to go to sleep, but sleep didn't come easily. My mind kept going back to him and when sleep finally did come he starred in my dreams.

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**A/N: Let me know what you think!**


	2. First Day

**Disclaimer :** I don't own anything - except the plot line, that's all me ;)

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**It's Good to be Home**

**Chapter 2 : First Day **

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**- Jace's POV -**

Once I was in the parking lot the nerves hit me again. No matter what happened I would definitely be seeing her face today and not knowing how she was going to react worried me. I took a deep breath and got out of my car.

The reaction of the girls around me made me smirk. They were all staring; some with their mouths wide open, some were giggling and whispering with their friends and some were trying to get my attention. It was nothing new; my looks always got me attention and why not? I was gorgeous with my blonde hair, amber eyes and of course my well toned and muscular body. I was hot and the girls always wanted me, but at the moment I didn't really care, I wanted to find my friends.

Once inside the building it didn't take me long to find the guys. They were all standing together talking by some lockers, Magnus noticed me first and smirked when he said "My, my, my. Look what the cat dragged in."

All the others turned just as I reached them and the shock was evident on their faces I just smiled and said, "I know I'm hot as hell and everything but could you stop with the staring, I just don't swing that way."

They all smiled and Simon said, "Damn, when did you get back?"

"Last night, my dad got another promotion and they let him choose which office he wanted to work out of and he chose here. Mom missed New York and all of her friends so, here I am."

Alec finally snapped out of his shock and asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said "Thought it'd be more fun if it was a surprise."

Sebastian and Jon's eyes went wide and Sebastian said, "You probably should have given us some warning."

I didn't understand their reaction, I turned to see what they were staring at and that's when I saw the girls standing in the doorway and Clary was frozen in the middle of the group just staring at me. God, she was absolutely beautiful and at the moment her piercing green eyes were staring at me in shock.

The girls noticed her reaction and looked to see what she was staring at and that's when they saw me. They kept looking back and forth between me and Clary, in any other situation I would have laughed my ass off but I couldn't, I was way too tense. The look in her eyes kept changing as they flashed with anger, hurt and confusion. I tried to look away from the pain in her eyes but I couldn't, her eyes had me trapped. Finally she said something but it was too low for any of us to hear and she spun on her heels and ran out the door. The girls ran after her and I was about to follow them when Jon and Simon stopped me.

I looked at them and Sebastian said "Not a good idea."

"I just need to see if she's ok."

"Well duh cupcake, of course she's not ok."

Alec sighed and said "Magnus,"

"Oh come on, we all know she's not and we all know why. You left and didn't even say goodbye to her. You said goodbye to everyone else and made us all swear not to tell her because you wanted to be the one to do it and then you didn't. She was a complete wreak, not to mention pissy with all of us when she found out we knew you were leaving and didn't tell her. And you know damn well what redheads are like when they get pissy, especially our little ClareBear. Oh, and lets not forget, even though we were all your friends the only person you deigned to grace your correspondence with was Alec."

Well, Magnus certainly hadn't changed. He never pulled any punches and had no problem telling you exactly what he thought, consequences be damned. I just looked and him and said "Sorry."

Jon snorted and said "Sorry? That's all you got? You and my little sister were practically attached at the hip before you moved and she was destroyed when you left. She couldn't understand why you would leave without saying goodbye to her."

"Because I just couldn't do it. I was beyond pissed that we were moving and the thought of saying goodbye to her was unbearable." I paused for a moment and then asked "So, what, do you guys hate me now?"

They all took a few minutes, acting like they were thinking about it, which drove me up the wall. Then Magnus said, "Naw, we don't hate you. We think you're an ass, but we don't hate you."

We all laughed and I said "Well, thanks." I turned to look at the door Clary had run out of and said "But she does."

Simon said "Well, she's has every right to. Give her time; eventually she'll get over it. She'll just vent to all of us and Kyle and things will be good."

My head snapped to Simon and I asked "Kyle?"

They all looked wary from my expression and Sebastian said "Yeah, Kyle. Clary's boyfriend."

I nearly growled when I said "Boyfriend?" Then I glared at Alec and said, "You never told me Clary had a boyfriend."

He shrunk back and said, "You never asked."

Before I could say anything Magnus was smirking and said "Why do you care? Hmmmmmm?"

I looked at him and said "Oh shut up."

They all laughed and Magnus said "Well, looks like someone has a crush on our little redhead."

Everyone laughed again and Jon said "Stand in line, my little sister gets far too much attention from the boys in this school."

Sebastian and Simon both snorted and then Sebastian said, "That's because she's hot."

"Not really something I want to hear when discussing my little sister."

"You always say that, but it doesn't change the fact that she is. Just face it; she's a hoty, just like Izzy, Aline and Maia. Would it make life easier if we didn't have to worry about the attention they get from the opposite sex? Yes. Is it going to happen? No."

"Simon's right. At least you don't have to worry about your little sister being as boy crazy as mine is."

Jon laughed and said, "That's true."

They still hadn't answered my question completely and I was getting rather impatient so I asked "So, who's Kyle?"

They all exchanged looks and then Jon said "Since we only have a few minutes, you'll have to settle for the short version."

I glared at him and said "To be followed by the complete story later."

Jon just rolled his eyes and said "He's a Junior and he's on the football team with us. They started dating about a week before summer started."

Well this just sucked. Though I shouldn't really be surprised that she was seeing someone. She's beautiful, smart and has attitude to spare. There was no way guys wouldn't notice that and it was only a matter of time before she found someone she wanted to be with. God, I was so pissed with my father. If it weren't for him we would have stayed in New York and Clary would be mine, not Kyle's!

The look on my face must have been something to see because the guys looked worried, well, everyone but Magnus. He just had a smirk on his face. They probably knew what I was thinking and how I was feeling but Magnus was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the whole damn thing, typical.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I heard Alec ask "Are you ok?"

Magnus snickered and I said "I'll be fine. I just, I don't know, for some reason I didn't expect her to be seeing someone." I opened my eyes and looked at all of them and said "Yeah, I know. That was a very stupid assumption to make."

They all laughed and I joined in then Simon said "Yeah, a very, very, very –"

I cut him off and said "I get it."

"All right, we only have a few minutes before the bell rings and I'm guessing you still need to check in at the office. We can finish this little reunion at lunch. You know Jace; you shouldn't really be all that upset."

I looked at Sebastian in shock and asked "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"Well, with all the attention you're getting from the opposite sex, I'm guessing that you'll have plenty of volunteers to help take your mind off of Clary."

I groaned and said "Normally I would be all over that, but that doesn't really make me happy right now."

Magnus snickered again and said "Wow, you've got it really bad for our little redhead. Don't ya?"

The others laughed and I said "Thanks. It's nice to see you're enjoying my misery."

That only made them laugh harder and Jon finally grabbed my arm and started pulling me away "Come on, I have to go by the office so I'll walk you there."

As he pulled me away I looked back at the others and said "You guys suck!"

Magnus yelled back "Yep, we do!"

Then I heard Alec "Magnus!"

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**- Clary's POV -**

My alarm went off and I groaned. I hated the first day of school; I could never understand why Izzy, Aline and Magnus always get so excited. While I was contemplating going back to sleep I heard someone pounding on my door. I yelled "Go away!"

The door opened and Jon came walking in "No chance, Mom told me to make sure you got up so that's what I'm doing. Don't make me throw water on you."

I opened my eyes and glared at him "That's not a very nice thing for a brother to do to his little sister."

"Hey, I haven't done anything . . . yet. If you don't get out of bed it'll be your fault because you didn't listen to my warning."

I threw my pillow at his head and said "Get out, I have to change."

He laughed and said "Fine, do you need a ride to school?"

"No, I'm getting a ride with the girls."

"All right, I'll see you at school."

"Wait. You're leaving all ready?"

"Yeah, I have to talk to coach before school starts."

"Oh."

"Hey, don't you dare go back to sleep. Besides, you know what'll happen if you're not dressed and ready to go when Izzy and Aline get here."

He laughed at the look on my face "God, you're right. They'll try to use my as their Barbie."

"Yep, they would. See you later."

I was dressed and ready to go by the time the girls got to the house. When I walked out to the car both Aline and Izzy were glaring at my jeans and t-shirt. I just smirked and got into the car. The ride to school was short and filled with Izzy and Aline talking about all the new dating prospects, I just tuned them out. It wasn't really something I wanted to talk about, or listen to.

When we got to school Izzy asked "So, how are things with you and Kyle?"

"Fine."

"Fine, just fine. Come on Clary, give us some more details." By the end Aline was almost whining.

"I don't know. It just seems like he wants more than I can give him."

Izzy stopped and looked pissed "Is he pressuring you Clary? Cause if he is I'll kick his ass!"

"Izzy, calm down." I hissed "Watch what you say, if that crap got back to my brother and the guys all hell would break loose."

She hadn't calmed down; she just looked at me and demanded "Is he?"

"No, he's not. I'm well aware that he wants more, but he would never actually pressure me into doing anything."

She finally calmed down and looked confused "What's wrong then? Why don't you want more with him? I mean, he's absolutely gorgeous! And that body of his."

"Izzy, please remember this is Clary's boyfriend we're talking about."

"Maia's right Izzy, stop drooling over the boy. He's taken."

"Whatever. Clary, you still didn't answer my question. What's wrong with Kyle?"

"Nothing is wrong with Kyle. Kyle's great. I just don't feel like we're all that connected. I mean he's a nice guy and when he asked me out I figured why not, but I just don't know. We've been going out all summer, I should be excited to see him and spend time with him, but I'm not."

Maia put her arm around my shoulder and said "You're obviously not interested in Kyle as anything more than a friend and there's nothing wrong with that."

"Maia's right Clary. If you're not sure about Kyle that's fine, but you should probably talk to him and explain what's going on in your head and what you're feeling."

Izzy was right; Kyle deserved to know I just wanted to be friends. Of course, telling him that another guy was constantly on my mind and the reason I didn't want to be with him probably wouldn't go over too well. How exactly would I explain it to him without hurting him? He's a good guy and doesn't deserve to be hurt because I can't stop thinking about the past.

We were walking through the doors when Aline said "Just talk to him Clary. Get it over with and you'll feel better."

I saw the boys and a very familiar blond head was with them. I stopped cold. I couldn't believe it, was it really him? Was he back for good? Was he just visiting? What the hell was he doing here! Maybe I was imagining him. The girls noticed I had stopped at the same time Jon and Sebastian saw me. Sebastian said something and he turned around to look at me.

Everyone else in the hall just disappeared; all I could see was him. So many emotions rippled through me but pain and anger were the strongest. I just couldn't believe he was here. "Crap!" I spun on my heels and flew through the doors. I just couldn't look at him anymore; I had to get away from him.

I heard the girls behind me and they caught up to me when I stopped at the huge tree in front of the school. I spun around and yelled "Did you know? Did any of you know that he was coming back?"

Izzy was the first to speak "No Clary. None of us knew he was coming back. I don't think Alec even knew. If he did, this is definitely something he would have shared with us."

I sank to the ground and sat against the tree "Why is he here?"

They exchanged glances and then Aline said "It looks like he's back."

"Oh God, he can't be back. I don't want him to be back." Was that true? Did I really want him gone or was I just lying to myself? I looked at the girls and it seemed like they were thinking the same thing.

Izzy and Aline pulled me up and Maia said "Come on, school's about to start." I just glared at her and before I could say anything she said "Clary, I know what seeing him is doing to you, we all do, but this could be a good thing. You finally have a chance to talk to him about what happened. Maybe once you do and things are settled you can finally move on."

"You're right, of course you're right. I'm not going to let myself fall apart or be affected by Jace Herondale! And until I'm ready to deal with him I'm just going to pretend like he doesn't exist."

I saw the looks they exchanged. They were wondering if I could actually pull it off, hell, so was I. The two of us were so close before he left, he could read me like a book. But he left and he didn't say goodbye, I didn't even know he was moving until after he was gone. To say I was destroyed was an understatement; it was like I couldn't breathe anymore. After a while I perfected the art of convincing my friends and brother that I was over it, that I was fine, but I've never truly gotten over what he did to me. Now he's back and I don't know if I want to run into his arms and tell him to never leave me again or if I want to knock him on his ass and tell him to stay the hell away from me. Both options seem to have a pretty fair shot at the moment and until I decide what I want to do I need to stay away from him.

We walked back into the school and I assured them I was fine for the moment so we all went our separate ways. Then I started thinking about my schedule and began to worry, some of my classes were A.P. courses and there was a chance that we could be sharing those classes. Oh hell! Sitting in the same room with him day after day would make it that much harder to avoid him. He never was one to let something go and it doesn't matter if the other person wants him to or not. Oh hell!

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**A/N: Okay here's the next chapter, let me know what you think!**


	3. Encounters

**Disclaimer :** I don't own anything - except the plot line, that's all me ;)

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**It's Good to be Home**

**Chapter 3 : Encounters**

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**- Clary's POV -**

For the first two periods I was jumpy; I kept expecting to see him walk through the door. After the first ten minutes passed and he didn't show, I was able to relax and actually focus on what the teachers were saying. By the third period I had completely relaxed; I was in AP Bio and had a table all to myself. I was flipping through my textbook when I heard someone sit down beside me. When I looked to see who I would have as a lab partner for the year I saw his face.

Dammit, this just couldn't be happening. Why wasn't I paying attention? Why was I stupid enough to actually be excited to have the table to myself? Now I was stuck with him all damn year. Great, just great.

I knew he could see the anger in my eyes because I could see the apprehension in his face. He didn't say anything and I knew he was waiting for me to speak first. Well, he would be waiting a while. I just glared at him and then turned my head to face the chalkboard.

How could one hour possibly take so damn long? I was trying to pay attention to the teacher but it was impossible to ignore him sitting next to me. I could almost feel him, the heat radiating from his body and his eyes that continued staring at me. His eyes never left my face, begging me to look at him, but I didn't, I couldn't. I wasn't sure what my reaction would be if I let myself give in and look at him. The even split from this morning was fading and I was definitely leaning towards screaming at him. An option that definitely wouldn't be a good idea considering we were in the middle of class.

I thought that eventually he would give up and look away once he realized that I wasn't going to give in, but he never did. Finally, I heard the teacher wrapping up his lecture, talking about his expectations, homework and projects for the year. Of course I didn't hear any of it thanks to the gorgeous boy sitting next to me. Wait, dammit, I need to stop thinking about him like that. He's a jerk, a total ass and he shattered my heart, his looks didn't matter.

I started putting my things away before the bell rang so I could escape quickly, hoping that he would just let me go. I should have known it wasn't going to be that simple. When the bell rang I got up and moved toward the door but he blocked my way. I just stood there staring at the ground when he grabbed my arm and said, "Clary please look at me. Please talk to me."

I pulled my arm out of his grasp and heard the teacher "Is there a problem?"

My eyes snapped to his and I smiled "Nope, no problem Mr. Nelson."

"All right then, you two should get going you don't want to be late for your next class."

I moved around Jace and said, "You're right I wouldn't. See you tomorrow."

As I was leaving, I could tell Jace was right behind me. I should've known he wasn't going to let me escape. As I walked through the door I heard Mr. Nelson "Have a good day Clary. You too Mr. Herondale."

I was moving faster and didn't reply but I could hear Jace say, "Thanks, you too."

We were a few feet from the room when he grabbed me again. "Dammit Clary! Just talk to me."

I spun around and glared at him "Why the hell should I talk to you? Because that's what you want? Well I stopped caring about what you wanted a long time ago! Did you ever consider what I want? That maybe I don't want to talk to you! That I don't forgive you for what you did!" I pulled out of his grasp yet again and slapped him across the face and then yelled, "To hell with Jace Herondale!"

Before he could respond, I ran toward my next class hoping that he would follow me. I made it to AP History and took a seat trying to calm my nerves, but I realized that this was another class that I might end up sharing with Jace. My eyes were glued to the door and my heartbeat was going about a mile a minute just waiting to see if he walked into the room.

I wasn't really paying attention to anyone else so when someone sat down next to me I jumped. Then I heard a familiar voice "Damn Clary, calm down. What's wrong with you? Why are you so jumpy?"

I sat back down and looked into Maia's eyes. They were full of concern "I'm fine. Sorry, I just . . . I don't know what that was."

She just stared at me for a few moments before saying "Right, I'm supposed to believe you. I've known you for way too long to believe that crap. Now tell me what's wrong."

Just as the bell rang and our teacher walked into the room I said, "Jace was in my last class."

I heard her suck in a breath as the teacher began his lecture. She didn't dare say anything back because Mr. Wilson was a harsh teacher. If he caught you whispering or passing notes you got in trouble. Normally, with any other teacher you'd get a reprimand or extra homework, something small but not with Mr. Wilson. He gave you detention for a week or longer, it was best not to piss him off and always remain on his good side.

Maia kept looking at me all during the period; she was worried about me. I could tell she was thinking about all of the possibilities that could have played out between Jace and I, and they weren't all good. She was right to worry. The entire period I was able to avoid his eyes, but in the hall, when I yelled at him I couldn't help it. I stared right into the gorgeous amber eyes and could see all the emotions swirling behind them. Naturally there was frustration and anger because I was ignoring him, but there was pain too. I could definitely understand the first two but what was with the pain I saw in his eyes. He didn't have any right to be in pain, I was the one he hurt, I was the one he left without a word.

The bell rang and we started walking towards our lockers so we could put our stuff away and head to lunch. Maia was just about to start interrogating me when I heard a voice behind us. "Clary? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

I couldn't help it, for a minute I froze. When I realized it was Kyle's voice I turned to face him, smiled and said "Sure. Maia I'll meet you at the table."

She looked at me, her eyes questioning if I was all right, if I really wanted her to leave. I just smiled and she said "All right, I'll see you later. Later Kyle."

"Bye Maia. So do you want to go outside?"

"Sure." As we started to walk outside I looked at Kyle and noticed how tense he was. Something was wrong. Normally he would hold my hand or put his arm around me when we walked together but not now. He made sure to keep some distance between us so he wasn't touching me.

Once we got outside and it seemed as if he was going to just keep walking I put my hand on his arm "Kyle? What's wrong?"

He spun around and was glaring at me "Are you cheating on me?"

Ok, that was out of nowhere, what the hell? "What? What on earth are you talking about?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and just kept glaring at me "I saw you this morning in the hall. You're reaction when you saw that new kid who was standing with your brother and his friends. You saw him and ran out of the building. Then after third period, I saw the two of you together again. He had his damn hands on you and you both looked pretty cozy."

"Are you serious?"

"Well, it would explain why you won't go to bed with me."

"So, let me get this straight. Because I won't have sex with you after a few months of dating you assume I'm sleeping with someone else?" Was he a freaking idiot! Did he really think so little of me?

"Damn straight. Oh come on, with all the attention you get from the guys at this school. I'm not stupid, I asked you out because you're one of the sexiest girls in the school. With you on my arm all the guys are jealous of me, wishing they were in my shoes. The guys are always asking me if we've had sex yet; they're getting bored listening to my make out stories. They're questioning my skill because you haven't given it up yet and now I see why. You aren't sleeping with me cause you're screwing someone else!"

Oh. My. God. Did he really just say that? I slapped him across the face "How dare you! You think just because I'm not some slut who gives it up to you just because you ask I'm sleeping with someone else!"

"I put in all this time and effort. I take you out on nice dates, give you presents and all I get in return is a kiss. You even flip when I try to touch you, I mean come on! Any other girl would be ecstatic to be with me and do a hell of a lot more then give me a kiss for all the shit I've done for you!"

I just couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth and I couldn't take it anymore so I punched him in the face. Too bad it didn't knock him on his ass, but it definitely pissed him off. When he looked back at me, I glared at him and said, "I can't believe I was so wrong about you. I actually thought you were a good guy, but you're not, you're just a conceited, arrogant bastard. And you're wrong by the way, not every girl in this school wants to be with you."

He grabbed both of my arms "How dare you, you little bitch!"

"Let her go!"

Kyle turned around and due to his shock he let me go and we both saw Simon standing a few feet behind Kyle and he was seething. "Back off! You have no idea what's going on!"

Simon walked up and stood in front of me, protecting me from Kyle "I don't care! All I care about is the fact that you think you have the right to talk to her like that or put your hands on her."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?"

"Do you really want to find out? Because if you're stupid enough to start something with me I'll do a hell of a lot more than make your jaw hurt."

I could see the fear that flashed through Kyle's eyes as he thought about what Simon said then he yelled, "Fine! Like I care! She's nothing but a stuck up little bitch anyways!"

Once Kyle was gone, Simon spun around and asked, "Are you all right?"

Was I? I still couldn't believe what had just happened. I actually thought Kyle was a great guy, I mean, yeah he was starting to pressure me a little bit but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Then this happens and all the crap he said to me, accusing me of cheating on him. What the hell?

I was still trying to process what had just happened and hadn't realized that Simon was waiting for my answer. I felt his hand on my face and I flinched away from him. I didn't mean to, it was automatic. I was still a little freaked over the fact that Kyle grabbed me. Then I heard Simon's voice again "Clary, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't." I smiled at him, trying to reassure him. "I'm just a little jumpy."

"That's understandable." He looked down and then said, "Holy shit! I'm gonna kill him!"

I didn't think that anything else could shock me but that did. "Simon what are you talking about?"

He grabbed my hands and pulled them away from my body "Look at your arms Clary."

Then I saw what he was talking about. Where Kyle grabbed me you could see his handprints. They were just red right now but they were definitely going to bruise. Great, just perfect. It wasn't bad enough that he said all that crap about me, but now he left bruises too. The guys are gonna kill him. The only response that came to mind was "Crap."

"Crap? That's all you can say?"

I pulled my hands away from him and glared at him. "What would you like me to say? Am I supposed to know how to respond to what just happened?"

"Sorry. You know I have to tell your brother and the others, right?"

"Unfortunately."

"What's that supposed to mean? After all that, you actually want to protect that bastard?"

"I just don't want you guys getting in trouble over him. He's not worth it."

He cupped my face with his hands, kissed my forehead and said, "No he's not, but you are."

Before I could say anything to him, he walked away and I was left thinking just how much this was going to suck. I mean, it's not like I want to protect Kyle or anything but I meant what I said. I didn't want the guys to get into any trouble over him. I started to walk to the cafeteria since I knew everyone would be waiting and I knew Maia was worried about me and would be waiting to talk to me. Then there was the matter of dealing with the aftermath of Simon's pending revelation to the group, which definitely wasn't going to go over well.

When I walked into the cafeteria, I began scanning the room for the others and when I found them, I felt my jaw drop open. Jace was sitting with them, which didn't really surprise me, but the fact that Kaelie was sitting next to him did. Although it was more like she was sitting on his lap she was so close to him. Her hands were stroking his arm and playing with his hair, I couldn't believe it. The sight of her sitting so close to him, touching him made my heart hurt and that just pissed me off even more.

There was no way I was going to sit at the table and listen to her annoying voice and have to watch her push herself onto him. Suddenly I didn't care about anything else, I didn't care about what happened with Kyle. I didn't care about the aftermath and the drama that was about to erupt. I just had to get out of there, I couldn't look at them anymore. I spun around and left the room.

I wasn't sure if any of the others saw me, but if they did they would be coming after me and I wasn't in the mood. I didn't want to talk to anyone and I sure as hell didn't want to deal with the confusing feelings coursing through me because I saw Jace with Kaelie. I knew there wasn't anywhere in the school I could hide so I went to the nurses office. I told her I wasn't feeling well and called my mom to come a pick me up. My mom could tell something was wrong by the tone of my voice so she agreed to come and get me. When she picked me up I could see that she was worried but she didn't ask any questions. One thing I definitely love about my mom, she doesn't push. She waits for me to come to her because she knows eventually I always do.

She dropped me off at home and then went back to her gallery. I went straight to my room, changed into my pj's and curled up under the covers. Surprisingly, sleep came quickly but my dreams were once again filled with a gorgeous blonde.

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**- Jace's POV -**

Jon and I didn't really talk much on the way to the office, but he did keep snickering at all of the stares I was getting. For once I didn't care, I was too busy thinking about Clary. She ran away from me and she's dating some mindless jock. How could she! Damn, I had to stop that. She wasn't mine, she never was. Sure, before I left it was getting to that point; everyone was just waiting for the day when we announced we were a couple. When we were together it already felt like we were, but the official announcement never came because I left and broke her heart.

Now I was back and she hated me. I don't know why I'm so surprised, after what I did to her she has every right to hate me. I just needed to figure out a way to get her to talk to me and hopefully forgive me. Being back here and seeing her everyday while she hates me will be absolute torture. I need to get her to forgive me and I need to find a way to make her mine.

I was completely lost in my thoughts because all of a sudden we were in front of the office and Jon was staring at me with a smirk on his face. "What?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

I thought about what I should say. Obviously by that stupid smirk he already knew the answer and I didn't really want to go into detail. I wasn't sure which response would be the best so I went with the truth, "Nope."

He laughed, "I didn't think so. Thinking about my sister were we?"

Damn, I guess I should've known "So?"

"Just give her time. You showing up out of the blue is hard for her. I mean, she thought she had us all convinced that she was over what happened, but we all know she's not."

"I-"

"Relax. Now that you're back she can finally deal with what happened and move on."

"With someone else?"

He smiled at me and said, "Someone else, you, I don't really care. I just want my little sister to be happy."

"Do you think she'll ever forgive me?"

"I don't know. The two of you were closer than anyone else. You were always together; it was like you guys completed each other. Damn, that was so freakin' corny."

I laughed, "Yeah it was, but it was also true. It's just . . . she can be so damn stubborn."

"True. All that means is that you have to give her time. You can't push and make this about yourself. Everything needs to happen on her terms."

"Easier said than done."

He chuckled "Tell me about it. Well, I've got to take off. I'll see at lunch."

"See ya." I walked into the office and began the fascinating and thrilling task of completing paperwork, speaking with boring adults and getting my schedule. Once I was on my way, I glanced at my schedule again and realized that I may end up sharing some classes with Clary. Well, that would definitely make things a whole hell of a lot easier.

The first two classes were the same. Boring teachers and annoying students, some of the girls actually argued over who would get to sit next to me. I wasn't really surprised, my godly looks always enticed that type of reaction, but I was so focused on Clary that I just didn't care.

I was almost late getting to AP Bio. I figured if I came in right before the bell then I could avoid girls from arguing over me. As I walked into the room and looked around I spotted her in the back of the room and the only empty seat in the classroom was next to her. I smiled and started towards her; she wasn't paying attention so she didn't see me walking towards her.

When she heard me sit down she looked towards me with a smile on her face, but the moment she realized it was me the smile disappeared. Her eyes were full of shock for a moment, then all I could see was anger. The smile slipped from my face and I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to say something, anything, but the look in her eyes stopped me. Then I remembered what Jon told me, to let things happen on her terms. Well, I guess it was time to put that to the test. I waited for her to say something but she didn't,she just turned her head and stared at the front of the room

My eyes never left her face and I could tell she wanted to look at me but she never did. She was so God dammed stubborn! I wanted her to talk to me but at the moment I would settle for her just looking at me. I know I completely deserve this, I know it's my fault but I just can't help being selfish. She was all I could think about while I was away. Sure I dated other girls, lots of girls, but nothing serious. I'd flirt, take a girl out, get what I wanted from them and then move on. I was a total ass when it came to other girls because none of them were her. They were distractions, something to keep my mind from thinking about her. Unfortunately, the distraction never lasted for long.

Now I'm back and she's sitting right next to me and she won't even look at me! Patience was never my strong suit, which totally sucks. Jon's right, getting her to forgive me, hell just getting her to talk to me,is gonna take patience. I just hope I can handle it.

I was paying just enough attention to the teacher to hear him wrapping up his boring ass lecture and then she started putting her things away. I guess she was hoping to get away before I can stop her. Well, that's not gonna happen. When the bell rang I stood up and blocked her way. She still wouldn't look at me, she just stared at the ground, so I grabbed her arm and said, "Clary please look at me. Please talk to me."

She pulled away from me and the teacher said, "Is there a problem?"

She looked up from the ground and towards the teacher then she said. "Nope, no problem Mr. Nelson."

I was still watching her face when I heard Mr. Nelson say "All right then, you two should get going, you don't want to be late for your next class."

She moved and walked around me while she said, "You're right I wouldn't. See you tomorrow."

She was moving fast but I stayed close behind her. Then I heard Mr. Nelson again, "Have a good day Clary. You too Mr. Herondale."

Wow, that's impressive, he already knows my name. Actually, I take that back, this could royally suck. Like I really want a teacher paying that close attention to me. Well it would be rude not to say something, "Thanks, you too."

I waited until we were far enough away from the room so Mr. Nelson wouldn't hear us when I grabbed her arm and practically growled, "Dammit Clary! Just talk to me."

She whipped around and her eyes were almost glowing from the anger in them. Then she hissed, "Why the hell should I talk to you? Because that's what you want? Well I stopped caring about what you wanted a long time ago! Did you ever consider what I want? That maybe I don't want to talk to you! That I don't forgive you for what you did!" Damn, she's right. I should've just left her alone, given her more time. God I'm such an idiot. I was still pretty much shell shocked so she pulled her arm out of my grasp. Then she slapped me, hard. Before I could really process much she yelled, "To hell with Jace Herondale!"

I couldn't believe she slapped me. Before I could say anything to her she ran off to her next class. Great, just perfect. I couldn't have screwed that up any more if I tried. I should have remember that fiery temper of hers. I wonder if I'm gonna have a mark on my cheek from where she slapped me. It still stings, she hit me pretty hard.

I walked to my next class still in a daze. That had all gone so horribly wrong and she freaking slapped me! She didn't hold back either, though that really shouldn't surprise me. She's never held back on anything in her life, why would she start now. I never realized just how angry she was with me; I guess I was just fooling myself thinking that she would be over what I did to her.

When I walked into the classroom there were a few empty desks in the back of the room so I sat in the corner. I was hoping everyone would leave me alone so I could figure out what to do next with Clary. I should've known that wasn't going to happen. Two blondes walked into the room and being the hormone ridden teenage boy that I am, I noticed their clothes. They were both wearing shirts that left little to the imagination and skirts so short I was wondering how on earth they got away with wearing them.

They spotted me in the back and the empty desks next to me. They both smirked and headed towards me. The girl who was obviously in charge sat next to me and her friend sat in the empty desk next to her. I wasn't paying any attention to either of them but I knew they were staring. The girl sitting next to me leaned over, her voice all husky, trying and failing miserably to be sexy "Hi. My name is Kaelie. What's yours?"

Oh please, like she didn't already know. The whole female population has been buzzing about my arrival and they all knew my name, my history and who my friends were. I didn't say anything hoping she would get the hint and leave me alone, but I wasn't that lucky.

"It's Jace right? You just moved back with your family or something?"

Obviously. she wasn't going to shut up any time soon so I looked at her and glared,"If you already knew then why the hell did you ask?"

She smirked, pleased that she got me to respond. She put her hand on my thigh and said, "I was just being polite. Introductions are always a good place to start." She started moving her hand up my thigh, what the hell. Ok, normally I would've been into how easy this girl is but not now. I stopped her hand with mine and moved it off of my thigh and then dropped it. She frowned and said "What's the matter with you? Any guy in this school would be thrilled to have my hands on their body."

Lucky for her, the teacher came in and I couldn't answer her. Throughout the rest of the hour she kept looking over at me. Apparently she wasn't too upset over our brief encounter, or discouraged. This was just what I needed, some slut trying to get to me when I'm trying to fix things with Clary. When the bell finally rang I practically jumped and ran out of the room before that Kaelie chick could do something to stop me. I wanted to get to lunch, to see the rest of the girls and actually say hello. Maybe, with everyone there, I can get Clary to talk to me and if she avoids me at least I can tell the others about what happened and get their advice.

By the time I had dropped of my books and made it to the cafeteria they were all there, well, everyone except Simon and Clary. I grabbed something to eat and sat at the table next to Jon. Izzy, Maia and Aline were sitting on the other side of the table.

"My, my. Are my eyes deceiving me or has the incredible Jace Herondale decided to once again grace us with his presence."

Everyone laughed, well what did I expect from Izzy. I just smiled. "Why thank you Izzy for admitting that you think I'm incredible. That does wonders for my ego."

While Izzy glared at me, everyone else laughed. Then I heard Maia, "Like your ego needs any help. You know before you left I didn't think it could get any bigger. Obviously, I was wrong."

"Well Maia, are you really surprised. He's even hotter than he was when he left. Of course his ego was gonna get bigger. With those sexy looks I bet he's had all kinds of girls throwing themselves at him. I would be surprised if it didn't affect him."

God I missed them. "Thanks Aline, it's nice to know you want me."

Aline winked at me and said, "Oh sweetie, I don't think you could handle me."

"Well, you probably couldn't handle me either. We'd probably end up breaking each other. It's probably better if we just stick to the whole friend thing."

Before Aline could say anything, Izzy looked at me and said, "Have you seen Clary?"

All eyes flew to mine "Um . . . yeah. We had third hour together, AP Bio, I sat next to her."

"And things went badly."

I looked at Maia and Jon asked, "How do you know?"

"I have class with her fourth hour and she was . . . I don't know, jumpy?"

Maia was watching me the whole time and I was about to respond when that Kaelie girl came up and sat beside me at the table "Hey Jacey baby."

There was dead silence for a minute and my only thought was this isn't going to be good. Then I heard Izzy "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah bitch. You have a lot of nerve sitting at our table." Aline was glaring daggers at Kaelie. Obviously, there's history between all of them. Great, they all hate her and she decided to latch onto me anyway.

She was practically sitting in my lap and her hands were all over me. Then she glared at the girls and said, "I can sit wherever I want to. Besides, Jacey and I met last hour and things went so well I just couldn't wait to see him again. Like I'm going to let you guys stop me from being with him."

"Get your hands off me! Stop touching me and move, you're practically sitting in my lap." While I was trying to push her away I noticed Izzy look at something behind me. Whatever had her attention was worrying her, then she nudged Aline to get her attention and Aline nudged Maia. Before any of us could ask them what was going on all three of them got up and took off.

Kaelie smiled and said, "It's about time they left. I knew they were scared of me."

The guys laughed and Magnus said, "Oh puh-lease, they aren't scared of you. Any one of them could beat you into next week, which they totally should cause you just deserve it. If not for your nasty little attitude then for your tacky, slutty wardrobe and horrible dye job."

We were all laughing and Kaelie was pouting, "Jacey you're not gonna let your friends talk to me like that are you?"

"Stop calling me Jacey! And of course I'm gonna let them talk to you like that, they're my friends. You're just some clingy girl who can't take a hint. You need to leave now."

She huffed and finally left the table; then Simon walked up and he looked pissed. Sebastian was the first to ask, "Hey, are you ok?"

He sat down across from us and said, "No, I'm not ok. Have you guys seen Clary?"

We were all instantly alert. Jon asked "Why? What happened, is she all right?"

"My guess would be no. I came across her and Kyle outside and it wasn't pretty." Then he told us about what he had seen. The things he had said to her, the names he had called her. We were all seething by the time he told us that he had grabbed her and left marks on her arms.

Jon shot to his feet and yelled, "That bastard!"

Alec pulled him down and hissed, "Calm down!"

"Calm down, calm down! Did you hear what he just said! How the hell can you expect me to calm down when he said . . . when he . . . he hurt her dammit!"

Jon was fuming and he was gonna explode. Even though I was right there with him we needed to calm him down before we attracted too much attention. Before I could say anything, Sebastian said, "Alec's right Jon. You need to calm down. We're all just as pissed as you are but if you attract attention from the wrong people right now that wouldn't be good." Jon calmed down a little as Sebastian's words sunk in. If we wanted to do anything about that asshole Kyle we couldn't let anyone know what we were up to.

It was quiet for a minute while we were all thinking about what happened, then Simon asked, "Where are the girls?"

Then it hit me. "Izzy must have seen Clary and the three of them went after her. Why else would all of them leave without a word?"

Magnus' voice was laced with concern when he asked, "Do you think they found her?"

I scoffed and said, "Oh come on, we all know that if Clary doesn't want to be found she won't be."

"God, Jace is right. But if she's by herself and Kyle finds her . . ."

Jon trailed off and we all knew what he meant. By Simon's description we all knew that Kyle wasn't done with Clary; if he found her alone who knows what he'd do to her. I was still lost in thought when I heard Simon's voice "All right Jace, where is she?"

My brilliant reply was, "Huh?"

The others laughed and Magnus said, "I guess you really are a natural blonde."

I glared at him and said, "Bite me."

He smirked and said, "You might enjoy it too much."

Alec groaned "Magnus! Is now really the time?"

Magnus feigned hurt and was completely serious when he said, "Of course."

We all laughed again; leave it to Magnus to lighten the mood. Then Jon looked at me and said, "You know her better than anyone. It doesn't matter that you've been gone, you two are still connected. So . . . where is she?"

I thought about what he said, he was right. It didn't matter how much time had passed, it didn't matter how long we had been apart. No one knew Clary like I did and I needed to remember that and put it to use. "I looked at Jon and said, "After everything that's happened today with me and then Kyle, she'd go home. She wouldn't want to deal with anything else or talk to anyone. She's gonna need time to process everything before she'll want to talk to anyone."

They all thought about what I said for a minute and then Sebastian snorted, "Damn, he's right. Jon why don't you go call your mom and make sure. The rest of us should find Iz, Maia and Aline and fill them in on what happened. And Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"You can fill us in on what happened between the two of you later." He had an evil grin on his face and I just wanted to smack him.

The others laughed and I said, "Oh yeah, that'll be fun."

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Alec and Magnus found the girls and told them what happened. Their reactions didn't go well. I made plans with the guys to meet later at Jon's place to talk about what we were going to do. His parents were going to some art show and wouldn't be back until late, which meant no adult supervision. Having parents involved in this whole mess would definitely keep us from doing what needed to be done.

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**A/N: Sorry it took longer than I thought, but it's the longest yet - let me know what you think**

**- So my friend asked me the other day if I had looked at my reviews lately, I said yeah. She just looked at me and said you sure? So I looked again and the but put up a review for my story when I was logged in under my account so it looks like I gave myself a review - she's such a dork!**


	4. Mending Bridges

** It's Good to be Home**

**Chapter 4 : Mending Bridges**

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******- Jace's POV -**

After school I drove home to drop off my stuff and leave a note for my parents, letting them know that I was going over to Jon's place. I left messages on their phones too,but with my parents you never know. My Mom was going to be hella busy catching up with old friends and taking part in the whole 'social scene' crap that she loves and Dad, well, he's always working. With his promotion and the move back to New York he's gonna be gone even more, not that I really care.

Once I was done with the note I headed over to Jon's. We didn't really set a time to meet but I wanted to get over there and make sure Clary was all right after what that bastard did to her. When I got there I noticed that there were some other cars in the driveway, I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted to check on her.

I knocked on the door and Izzy was the one who answered, "Oh good, you're here."

That wasn't the response I was expecting, "Um . . . I did tell the guys I was coming. Did you think I was gonna bail?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled me into the house, "No, God, overreact much? I'm glad you're here, cause Clary won't come out of her room."

Well that wasn't good, but then I realized that I had an opportunity to mess with Izzy and I definitely couldn't pass it up. "Overreact? That wasn't an overreaction Iz, it was surprise. You really are a drama queen aren't ya?"

I watched her face when I said that last bit and her reaction was perfect. She froze and then glared at me and sucked in a breath to let me have it but the others interrupted us. "Oh would you two give it a rest. Even after all this time, you're acting the same as always. You'd think the two of you would've changed or something."

"Simon, he just . . . I'm not-"

Jon interrupted her, "Izzy you two can get back to your arguing later. She hasn't opened the door for any of us but she might for Jace."

Not likely, or if she does she'll probably smack me again or worse. But this was Clary and I'd do anything for her, even if that meant being her punching bag. "Seeing me or hearing me might just piss her off even more."

They laughed and Alec said, "True, but right now she's not even answering us and the door is locked so we can't get in."

Well, I guess I could always resort to picking her lock if she refuses to open the door for me. "All right, you guys stay here, I'll be back."

As I started towards the stairs I heard Sebastian, "What? You don't want an audience?"

I turned to look at him; "If she does open the door there's every chance that she'll start yelling at me over what happened when I left. We have a lot to talk about and if her reaction to me earlier is anything to judge by, it isn't going to be pretty."

Magnus' eyes were practically glowing with excitement. "You never did spill about what happened between you two lovebirds."

Nope I didn't and now really wasn't the time either, so I'll go for the simplest response. "She yelled at me in the hall after class and slapped me."

The others had mixed reactions but Magnus laughed, "Oh gawd, how absolutely perfect. I totally wish I had been there and had a camera to snap a picture for posterity. These are the memories we will cherish forever."

The others were chuckling and I was too but Alec had slapped his hand to his forehead in response, "Uh-huh, her slapping me and telling me to go to hell is really something I want to remember forever. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go see if I can coax the little tigress out of her room."

I could hear the others laughing while I walked out of the room and up the stairs.

I had absolutely no problem remembering my way to her room. Before I moved I spent a lot of time in her bedroom and had a lot of good memories that took place in that room. One of the best would definitely be when I kissed her for the first time. It was a total spur of the moment thing, sure I had been thinking about it for a while, but that was all I had been doing, thinking about it.

Things had started to change between us around New Years during 8th grade, 7th for her. We were in her room and I was teasing her over something then I started tickling her. She was on the bed underneath me, I was straddling her and when I asked her if she surrendered our eyes met and then I couldn't help myself. Once my lips touched hers I was worried that she would push me off but she didn't, she kissed me back. It wasn't just a peck on the lips either, we just kept kissing and kissing, our hands exploring each other's bodies totally getting lost in each other, and then we heard Jon yelling for us and we jumped apart.

That was my first kiss, hers too and it definitely wasn't the last kiss we shared either and every time we were together things went a little further and the electricity between us kicked up a few more notches. The others never knew how serious we had actually gotten. They just knew things had changed between us and were waiting for us to decide we wanted to be official. But Clary was worried about what the others would say, especially Jon, so she wanted to wait to tell them. I didn't really care what the others thought, I just wanted to do whatever made Clary happy. The others probably never really understood why she was so upset after I left because they didn't know everything that had happened between us and I know Clary didn't fill them in after I left.

I reached her door and knocked but I didn't say anything, I knew it would bug her if she didn't know who was at the door. I waited for a few minutes and she still didn't say anything so I just knocked again. I heard movement behind the door, it sounded like she got up from the bed and was walking towards the door. She still didn't say anything so I knocked again, this time I got a response.

"Who is it?"

Her response was almost a whisper and I barely heard her. I knew it was because she was trying to hide the pain in her voice, the tears too probably. I wasn't sure if she'd open the door if she heard my voice so I decided to say nothing and just knock again. It was only a matter of time before her curiosity got to her and she opened the door. The fact that she wasn't in the best of moods worked in my favor too, it meant that she was gonna open the door sooner rather than later and I was right. After one more knock I heard her frustrated sigh and she opened the door.

She had tear tracks running down her cheeks, her eyes were all red and her hair was a mess but she still looked beautiful. She locked eyes with mine and I guess it was just too much for her because her legs gave out. I moved forward and grabbed her before she fell to the ground. I picked her up so I could carry her to the bed and the feel of her in my arms was amazing, better than I remembered.

I was close to the bed and she smacked my chest, "Put me down!" When I didn't, either due to shock because she hit me again or because I just liked having her in my arms, she yelled at me again. "I said put me down!"

I looked into her eyes and smirked, "Are you sure? I don't want you to collapse and hurt yourself."

The sincerity in my voice doused some of her anger, "I'm fine. I just didn't expect to see you, you caught me off guard. Just put me down, I promise I'm fine."

I set her on her feet and kept my hand on her back to make sure she didn't fall. At least that was what I was telling myself. The truth was I just didn't want to stop touching her, whenever we touched it was like an electric charge went through my body and it was even more intense if the contact was skin on skin, even after all this time it was still there. I knew she felt it too, I could see it in her eyes when she stepped away from me.

She didn't say anything, she was just staring at her bed while I was staring at her. I was taking her in, something I hadn't been able to do yet, but then I got to her arms. For a moment I had forgotten what Simon had told us at lunch. When I saw the bruises that were forming on her arms it all came rushing back to me.

They looked horrible; he must have grabbed her really hard to leave the bruises on her that he did. I stepped closer to her and I felt her whole body tense, I gently touched her arms, making sure I didn't hurt her. "Are you all right?"

The moment I touched her arm she sucked in a breath. At first I didn't know if it was from pain or something else, but when her head snapped up and she looked me in the eyes I knew it wasn't from pain. Neither of us said anything for what seemed like forever, we just stared into each other's eyes and my hands didn't stay on her upper arms. It seemed as though my hands had a mind of their own because they started moving slowly up and down her arms caressing them. She didn't stop me and I could tell from the look in her eyes she didn't want me to stop, but then they changed and she stepped away from me. "Um . . . I'm fine. They don't hurt too badly, they're just bruises."

She moved away from me and sat on the bed. Then she looked at me and seemed to rethink her decision, because she got up and started pacing across her room. She seemed to get more agitated and tenser as she paced. I knew what was coming; she was finally going to 'vent' as the guys had said earlier. This wasn't going to be pretty and it was going to be loud so I went to the door and shut it.

My actions caught her attention and she looked at me, "What are you doing?"

"Well if we're finally gonna talk I don't want an audience, do you?"

She glared at me, "What's the matter? Don't want them to hear about what you did?"

"I don't care if they know or not. All I care about is you."

She scoffed at me, "Yeah right. You don't give a damn about me. I think you made that pretty clear when you left."

"I'm sorry-"

"Sorry? Are you kidding me? Is that all you have to say? You're sorry! We were together, you were my other half. We spent all of our time together, no one knew me like you! You were my first kiss, my first love and you just left!" She was yelling at me by the end and I was sure the others could hear us, but I didn't care.

Each word out of her mouth was like a knife to my heart. She was right, we were inseparable and all of those important firsts were with each other, except for one, and I intended for her to be my first for that as well. I wasn't sure if I could explain it right to her, to make her understand. But the look in her eyes, all of that pain, I was the one who caused it, I had to set it right. I had to make her understand and hope she would forgive me.

"You're right and I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am. But I just couldn't do it."

"Do what?" Well at least she wasn't yelling at me.

"Say goodbye to you." She scoffed at me and was about to say something, "Please let me finish." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I guess that was my answer, "When I found out we were moving I just couldn't believe it. My father told me we were leaving about a month before we left."

She gasped. "Is that why?"

I saw the anger disappear for a moment and shock replace it, "Why what?"

"That night we spent together, when we almost . . . the next day at school you were acting weird and I thought it was because you were mad at me or something. You know . . . because I didn't . . ."

She trailed off and I knew exactly what she was talking about and I could've kicked myself. We had spent that night in her room, everyone else was out and we were alone. It had just started as kissing but things got heated pretty fast and then we were lying on her bed in nothing but our underwear when she froze. We were a heartbeat away from having sex and it was something we both wanted but she was scared so we stopped. Then I noticed the time and had to leave because I was late getting home. When I did get home Dad told me we were leaving and she was right, the next day I was acting like a dick to everyone, including her.

I moved towards her and cupped her face with my hands. "God no! Of course not, I completely understood why you stopped and I could never be mad with you because of that. I'm sorry, it's just I was so pissed with my father about the move and I wasn't really thinking about anything else." Her whole body had relaxed the moment I touched her and a new look was in her eyes. I could see that she wanted me but she was fighting it, she was trying to hold on to her anger. God she was so damned stubborn!

She blinked a few times and then stepped back. "Oh. I thought, with the way you were avoiding me, that you hated me because we stopped."

I stepped closer to her again, "I could never hate you. In fact, I've replayed that night in my head so many times since I left." I knew I had a look of utter bliss on my face and when I caught her eyes I smirked, "It's one of my favorite memories."

She blushed; it was nice to see I still affected her so easily. That with a smile, a touch, or even a look I could drive her crazy, it was only fair considering she still affected me in the same way. We were just staring at each other, me with my cocky smile that always drove her nuts and her with a blush that was spreading by the minute. Then she shook her head and yelled, "Stop that!"

Dammit, why did she have to fight it, why couldn't she just let go? I could tell she wanted to, God, this would be so much easier if she weren't so freakin' stubborn. "Stop what?"

"Looking at me like that. I'm still mad at you! You don't get to come in here after all this time and smile and look at me like that and think I'll just forgive you!"

Part of me knew she was right. I had hurt her, badly, and getting things back to the way they were wasn't going to be that easy. But another part of me wondered why. I mean, I still loved her, I never stopped and I could tell that she still loved me too, so why not? Why couldn't it be that easy? I knew what to say next, but I knew that it was going to be risky.

I just stared into her eyes, stepped closer and softly said, "Lissa," her body froze at my nickname for her. "I'm so sorry for hurting you; I'll never be able to apologize enough. But I still love you, I never stopped loving you and I'm going to love you for the rest of my life. You were all I could think about while I was gone. I tried dating other girls but it never lasted because they weren't you. They worked as a distraction for a few days or weeks but then I was back to comparing them to you and I realized they just weren't good enough. They weren't what I wanted, what I needed, they weren't you." I moved even closer and cupped her face again with my hands, "Now that I'm back, I'm never leaving again. I can't think straight when I'm away from you, I can't breathe when you aren't close to me and it's like my heart is frozen because you're not in my life."

Tears started rolling down her face and her voice was shaky when she said, "Dammit, that's not fair!"

I laughed, that definitely wasn't the response I was going for. I moved my face closer to her and whispered, "What's not fair?"

She glanced at my lips and then looked back into my eyes. "You saying all of that to me. I just want to stay mad at you and keep you away so you can't break my heart again and then you say something sweet like that, making it even harder for me."

Well, at least now I knew why she was being so stubborn and it was a valid excuse. I broke her heart, well, more like shattered her heart and she doesn't want to give me the chance to do it again. I kissed both of her cheeks, trying to kiss away her tears. She closed her eyes and her breathing became a little shaky, I smiled and pulled back so I could see her face. I waited until she opened her eyes again, "I will never hurt you again. I will do everything in my power to keep your heart safe. I love you Lissa and I don't want to live one more second of my life without you."

She stared into my eyes and I waited for her response. I hoped she would forgive me, but after how badly I hurt her, I wouldn't blame her if she couldn't. I froze when she moved her hands to cup my face, copying my hold on her. "As much as I wish I didn't, I love you too. It scares me how much I love you, how much I missed you. When you realize that your heart belongs to someone else and they break it, it isn't something you get over easily."

I smiled at the thought of owning her heart especially considering the fact that she was the owner of mine. "You're right. I gave you my heart a long time ago and you took much better care of it. But I swear to you, if it's within my power, I will never allow you to be hurt again."

She smiled at me and it took my breath away. "Good." Then she kissed me and it wasn't just a simple friendly kiss either. The moment her lips touched mine it was like heat exploded throughout my body. My hands left her cheeks and began slowly moving down her body to wrap around her hips and pull her closer to me. Her hands caressed my neck, moved to my chest and abs then back up to wrap around my neck and her hands moved to my hair. I loved the feel of her hands on my body and when she tugged on my hair I growled, I couldn't help it. God, the way she made me feel.

When we both needed to breathe I pulled away and moved my lips to her neck and we started moving towards her bed. We were about to collapse onto it when we heard a knock at the door. I pulled away from her slowly, reluctantly. I didn't want to stop kissing her, to stop touching her. I looked into her eyes and could see her desire for me; she didn't want to stop either. But we both knew that the others weren't going to leave, so we pulled away from each other, she smiled and kissed my cheek.

We started walking towards the door when we heard someone pounding on it and then a voice coming from the other side, "What the hell! Open the damn door! We heard you guys yelling and now we can't hear anything. Are you guys still alive? Clary, did you kill Jace?"

We looked at each other and smiled. Izzy will be Izzy. Then we heard Magnus, "Yeah, we heard you yelling but unfortunately we couldn't hear exactly what you said. So you need to give us a play by play because I'm betting it was definitely a juicy, delicious little fight."

I reached for the door and pulled it open "We're fine. See we're both breathing no blood or anything." Izzy was about to say something but I spoke before she could "Actually, now's not really a good time. We still have some stuff to talk about, so if you don't mind."

I closed the door again, I looked at Clary and she was smiling then we could hear Izzy"If . . . if we don't mind?" There was pounding on the door again, then Izzy was yelling "Jace Herondale you open this damn door right this minute!"

I could hear the others laughing "No! Just go back downstairs, we'll come down when we're ready."

"Of all the . . . Clary are you all right? He's not keeping you locked up against your will is he?"

I rolled my eyes and was about to respond but Clary beat me to it. She was laughing when she said, "Of course I'm all right Iz. Besides, he couldn't keep me anywhere against my will even if he wanted to."

I turned and wrapped my arms around her waist, then I whispered in her ear "Is that so?"

She shivered as my breath washed across her neck and her breath was shaky when she answered "Yes, that's so."

I was so focused on Clary that I didn't even realize the others had gone back downstairs. My hands had gone back to roaming over her body and I was placing hungry kisses on her neck. When I felt her hands on my body again, exploring under my shirt I thought I was going to explode. I moved up her neck and my lips found hers. She started pulling me towards the bed and she pulled away for a second to remove my shirt. We collapsed onto the bed, with her on top of me and she started kissing my neck and moving down my body. When she got to my chest she teased my nipples, kissing, licking and biting until I thought I was going to go insane. All I could do was tangle my hands in her hair and pray that she wouldn't stop.

She moved away from my chest and down to my abs, she was driving me crazy with that tongue of hers and I decided it was time I return the favor. I pulled her up to me and attacked her lips while my hands explored under her shirt. The higher my hands moved the louder she moaned. I moved away for a second so I could take off her shirt, once it was gone her lips attacked mine again and her hands went to my hair and pulled, hard. I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips. I rolled us over so she was underneath me and I started kissing my way down her neck. When I reached her collarbone her grip on my hair tightened and her legs wrapped around my hips. The moment she did that, I could feel the heat from her center against me and all coherency flew right out of my head.

I moved my hands to her breasts and slowly moved my mouth away from her collarbone. I slipped a finger under her bra and I swept my tongue across the swell of her right breast. I heard her moan again and then she rolled her hips against me. The moment she did that my cock hardened and she gasped when she felt me against her thigh. I was worried that she was scared or it was too much for her and she wanted to stop, but she pulled my face to hers again and gave me another heated kiss. When she deepened the kiss, I moved my hands to her hair and I ground my pelvis into hers to gain some much needed friction. She moaned my name and her hands left my hair, traveling down my body until she grabbed my ass and squeezed.

"Oh God Clary. Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

I felt her smirk against my cheek, then she started kissing her way down my neck. I slowly moved my hands back to her breasts and started to move them to her back so I could take off her bra. I wanted to feel those soft peaks in my hands, move my tongue across them, taste her nipples in my mouth and her damn bra was in the way.

Her hands were exploring my body again and when I reached her clasp she gasped. Only this time it wasn't from pleasure. "Jace, wait. Stop."

I pulled away from her so I could see her face, "What's wrong? Did I hurt you or something?"

"God no. The exact opposite. But . . . we just . . . we need to stop."

I could see in her eyes that she didn't want to, but I could also see something was wrong. I gave her my trademark smirk and said "Are you sure you want to stop? Things were just starting to get good."

She rolled her eyes and smacked my chest "Want to? No. Do I think we should? Yes."

She gave me a push and I rolled off of her. We both sat up facing each other, "Why?"

She had a pained look on her face when she said, "For so many reasons."

Well that didn't sound good, "Such as?"

She sighed and took a deep breath "Well for one, you just came back into my life today. I mean, part of me is saying that this is wrong. I mean . . . not too long ago I pretty much hated you for breaking my heart." She looked into my eyes and I could see her desire for me flare, "Another part is telling my rational side to shut up and let you take me any way you want to."

I smiled and moved my hand to her cheek; she leaned into my touch "Well, if you want my opinion-"

"I know perfectly well which side your on." She smiled and turned to kiss the palm of my hand. "I'm not saying that I don't want you." She looked into my eyes again "God, I want you so much it scares me." I knew exactly what she meant but before I could say anything she spoke again, "Another reason that we shouldn't be doing this right now is because all of our friends and my _brother _are downstairs waiting for us."

Damn she was right. I had completely forgotten about them. "You're right."

"And I want my first time to be a little more special. I definitely don't want to have to deal with my brother and all of our friends minutes after you take my virginity."

I smiled "And you take mine."

She gasped, "That's not very nice."

"What?"

"You lying to me. I appreciate it and everything but I'm not stupid."

Well I guess I should be flattered, but how could she think that I'd want to be with someone who wasn't her? I moved closer to her and pushed her back onto the bed, I held my body over her and whispered into her ear. "Clary, sure I've fooled around with other girls but I'm a virgin, just like you."

"Really?"

I heard the surprise in her voice; I kissed her on the soft spot under her ear and pulled back. "Clary, I did date a lot of girls, I'm not going to lie about that. I tried to use them to distract me from you, and no, I'm not completely innocent, but I never had sex with any of them. A lot of them would have gladly gone there with me but I just couldn't do it."

Her eyes were full of confusion when she asked "Why not?"

I rolled my eyes, smirked and said, "They all had the same problem."

"And what's that?"

I moved so my lips were inches from hers, I looked into her eyes and said, "They weren't you."

Her desire for me flared in her eyes again and she pressed her lips to mine. I felt her tongue run along my bottom lip and I opened for her instantly. Things started heating up between us again and she groaned, she put her hands in my hair and pulled. Then she moved her lips to my ear and said, "That isn't fair."

I laughed and pulled away from her "It's the truth, so it's completely fair."

I rolled off of her and got out of the bed to look for my shirt, "Hey! What are you doing?"

I laughed again and kept looking for my damn shirt, "Did you forget everyone is waiting for us?"

I looked at her and saw the blush color her cheeks, "Oh, right."

She got off of the bed while I was still looking for my shirt. Where the hell did she throw it! I looked over at Clary and she already had her shirt back on, figures. "Clary?"

She looked over at me, but her eyes were glued to my body and her face was flushed again, "Huh?"

She still hadn't looked at my face yet, "Clary?"

She snapped out of it and looked up, her face was almost as red as her hair. "Sorry."

I gave her a smirk and said, "Don't be, you know if you want to touch me you can."

"Oh shut up!"

I laughed again "Have you seen my shirt? I can't find it?"

"Um . . . last I saw it-"

"You were taking it off of my body and throwing it across the room?"

She blushed again "Shut up!" She turned away and picked up something and threw it at me. My shirt! Thank God. Of course I could've gone downstairs without it, it's not like I really cared if they saw me without my shirt on, but that would just led to too many damn questions.

After I had my shirt back on I looked over at Clary and saw that she was frowning. I walked over to her and cupped her face with my hands "What's wrong?"

She looked into my eyes, "So where does this leave us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she looked back to the bed "We just got pretty hot and heavy, and I was just wondering . . ."

She trailed off and I kissed her again. When I pulled away I said, "We're together. You're mine and I'm yours, just like it's always been. Only now it's official."

"What should we tell the others?"

"Whatever you want. Just as long as you tell them enough so I can touch you and kiss you without them freaking out."

She laughed, "How about I tell the girls and you can tell the guys?"

I scoffed "Lovely. I get to tell your brother."

She smirked and started moving her hands down my body where she grazed her hand against my cock. Dammit! I had just calmed down and now thanks to her I was hard again. I growled and my hands flew to her hips to pull her closer "That's not fair."

She grabbed my hips and thrust her pelvis against me "You're right, it's not." She ran her tongue up my neck and when she got to my ear she whispered "Too bad." She pulled back and moved towards the door. When she opened it and started to walk through the doorway she looked back at me. "Aren't you coming?"

Not likely. Thanks to her I was still hard, I had to calm down before I could go anywhere near the others. I just looked at her, rolled my eyes and said "In a minute."

Her eyes traveled down to my jeans and she giggled. She moved closer to me and said, "I'm sorry." She walked up to me, wrapped her arms around my back and pressed her body right up against mine. I bit my lip and tried not to groan, then she said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I glared at her "There are a lot of things you can do, but since everyone is waiting for us I think the best solution is for you to stand over there." I motioned with my chin to the other side of the room.

She laughed and pulled away from me. Her eyes smoldered at me when she said, "If that's what you want."

"You know damn well that isn't what I want."

She smiled "You're right, I do. Maybe I should stop teasing you."

I had finally gotten myself calm enough to go downstairs, so I walked over to her. I leaned close and whispered in her ear, "You know Lissa, pay backs a bitch."

I laughed when I heard her suck in a breath and headed downstairs to face the others.

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**A/N: Ok, so here's the next chapter, let me know what you think. I just wanna say thanks to everyone who's reviewed, added the story to their favorites or alerts I'm glad you guys like it.**


	5. Bonus Chapter  Chpt 4 From Clary's POV

** It's Good to be Home**

**Chapter 4 : Mending Bridges**

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**- Clary's POV -**

Unfortunately I didn't sleep for the rest of the day. The sound of the front door slamming woke me up. Then I could hear Jon yelling for me. I knew this was going to happen but I still didn't want to talk to anyone. I was still trying to process everything that had happened today. First Jace reappears and I slapped him, I slapped him. I slapped him hard too; I still can't believe I did that. From the look on his face when I did, he couldn't believe I hit him either.

Then before I had the time to adjust to the fact that he's back and all of the feelings his return is stirring up, I have to deal with Kyle. How could I have been so damn wrong about him? I thought he was one of the good guys, he was sweet, smart, funny, but apparently that was all just an act to get me into bed. I just can't believe that he said all of that crap to me and then he freakin' grabbed me. Now I'm going to have bruises for everyone to see. I looked down at my arms to see if the bruises had formed yet and just how bad they were going to look. Ah hell! They already look bad and they're just starting, This is gonna suck!

Before I could think much more about that ass I heard Jon pounding on my door, good thing I remembered to lock it. "Clary open the door! Are you all right?" He paused for a few minutes giving me time to answer but I didn't. I didn't want to talk to him, not yet. I knew if I just ignored him, eventually he would give up for the moment and leave, it was just a question of how long before he gave up. "Dammit Clary open the door and talk to me! Please? I'm worried about you. Simon told us what happened and I just wanna make sure you're all right."

Of course Simon told them what happened and no I'm not all right. I knew they would all be worried and I don't really want to make that worse but I'm just not ready and he needs to accept that. He should know by now that I'm not going to talk to him until I'm ready, no matter how hard he pounds on my door.

"Fine, you're not ready, I get that. Could you at least make some noise so I know that you're still breathing in there?"

Smart ass, I almost laughed and gave myself away, which was what he wanted, but I caught myself. Luckily the doorbell rang and kept him from saying anything more. I knew who was at the door, it was only a matter of time before all of my friends were here to check on me and talk about what they were going to do to Kyle. Beyond the guys not getting into trouble over him I didn't really care what they did to him at the moment.

I rolled onto my side and stared at the door when I heard another knock, it was Izzy this time "Clary? Come on, open the door and talk to us. We don't care if you look like crap from crying and have crazy bed head we just want to see if you're ok."

I smiled and then heard Aline's voice "Oh nice Izzy. Assume she looks like crap and that's why she doesn't want to open the door. She could have red puffy eyes and snot running down her face and she would still open the door if she was ok."

I almost laughed, leave it to them to worry about my appearance so damn much. Before Aline could continue on her rant I heard Maia "Oh good God you guys. Give it a rest. We're here to make sure she's ok, who cares what she looks like."

"That's what I said! Did you not hear me? I told her it didn't matter what she looked like we just wanna talk to her."

"Izzy, that's not the point."

"Yeah Izzy, like Maia said that's not the point."

I could almost picture Aline sticking her tongue out at Izzy. Even though we were all in high school we still acted like we were two years old sometimes. I was trying my hardest not to laugh, the fact that they weren't even trying to cheer me up made it even worse. They were just being themselves and I loved them for it, but I didn't want to talk to them, not yet.

"Clary please open the door and talk to us." Maia sounded really worried, not that I was surprised. It was quite for a few minutes while they waited for me to respond. Then I heard Maia again "All right Clary, we'll wait for you to come to us. We'll be downstairs when you're ready."

"Maia! You can't seriously thing that I'm-"

"Izzy, Maia's right. Clary's not ready and no amount of banging on her door or yelling at her is going to change that." The tone in her voice changed and she sounded kinda snooty when she finished "We need to be respectful of her wishes."

I had to bite down hard on my lip to keep myself from laughing. I could practically see Aline when she said that, her hands on her hips trying to look all superior when she spoke to Izzy. It was almost worth opening the door and dealing with them to see the look on Izzy's face, but I stayed put on the bed. It was quite for a moment and then I heard Izzy "Why you little-"

"Oh come on! You guys need to stop right now. Come on we're going downstairs."

You gotta love Maia. Aline and Izzy started to protest but Maia cut them "No! I don't want to hear it, come on let's go." They moved a few feet away and then I heard Maia again "Whenever you're ready Clary we'll be waiting for you."

As I listened to them walk away the doorbell rang again and I groaned. It must be the guys, which meant that it was only a matter of time before they made their way upstairs to try to coax me out of my room. I appreciated the gesture and it was nice to know how much they cared about me but I just wasn't ready. Of course their usual banter with each other outside my bedroom door was making me smile I just wanted the peace and quiet to think things through.

About 10 minutes later I could hear yelling, it was Izzy "Dammit, just go up there and try to get her to come out!"

"Oh come on Iz. She isn't going to open the door for me, she's not ready so it'd just be a colossal waste of time to go up there and bug her!" Sebastian was right it was a waste of time.

"Oh for heavens sake, just do it! Don't you care about her? Aren't worried about her?"

"Of course I am! I'm here aren't I?"

"Probably just cause all you boys are gonna discuss what you're planning to do to Kyle."

"Shut up Aline! That's not the reason and you know it, stop being such a bitch!"

Then I heard Jon "All right that's enough, all of you. Izzy, if Sebastian doesn't want to go up there that's fine. Besides he's right, she's not going to come out of there until she's ready."

"He should still try" Izzy was pouting; she didn't like it when she didn't get her way.

"And Aline, stop trying to piss off Sebastian."

"Oh please. It's so easy to get him all riled up I hardly have to try." Well that was definitely true; those two definitely knew which buttons to push and being cousins seemed to make it worse sometimes.

Then I heard someone clapping and laughing, it had to be Magnus. "This is absolutely fabulous, all this drama and it's only the first day of school." I heard someone groan, probably Alec. "But you do realize that since we're standing where we are she can probably hear us. So with that said come on boys it's our turn to try and coax the little minx out of her lair."

"Magnus is right. Go on now, hurry up and be nice." Izzy was happy; she was getting what she wanted. Magnus would probably drag Sebastian up here if he didn't come willingly.

It didn't take very long before I heard another knock at my door "So . . . what sounds good for dinner?"

"You drag me up here so we can stand outside her door and talk about dinner? What the hell Magnus?"

"Well we do have to eat you know. Besides when our little ClareBear decides to grace us with her presence it'll probably be because she's sick and tired of listening to her tummy growl at her."

God I loved Magnus, then I heard Alec "Magnus."

I could hear the warning in Alec's voice and before he could say much more Magnus said, "Oh fine, you guys seriously need to loosen your panties a little and relax."

I could hear someone snickering "Don't encourage him Simon."

"Oh come on Alec, he's right you need to loosen up."

"With everything that happened today, with what that bastard did? Not likely."

"Um . . . are you all forgetting that she can hear us?"

"Sebastian's right, she's probably rolling her eyes at us right this minute. Aren't ya Clary or you're rolling on your bed trying not to laugh at how uptight my lovely snuggle buddy Alec is."

"Magnus!"

The others were laughing and then Magnus said "Why darling I thought you liked my cute little nicknames for you, you certainly weren't complaining the other night when we-"

Alec cut him off "Magnus, don't you dare finish that sentence!"

"Oooh, I love it when you get all serious and demanding."

Sebastian and Simon finally stopped laughing and Sebastian said, "While this has all been extremely entertaining how about we focus on why we actually came up here?"

"Sebastian's right, although he didn't come willingly we had to practically drag you, but that's alright. Seeing you all broody and pouty was kinda sexy. Lucky for you I'm in a happy loving relationship."

"Right and lucky for you I don't swing that way, cause you definitely couldn't handle me."

Oh my God, did Sebastian really just say that? Of course it had the desired affect, it shut Magnus up and his face must have been something to see because I could hear the others laughing. When they stopped I heard Simon "All righty then, how about we knock again and see if she'll let us in? It would only be fair after the entertainment you've provided her with." He knocked on the door "Come on Clary, let us in. Then you'll be able to see the three stooges up close and personal."

I could hear the objections from the others over Simon calling them stooges and he was right, it was pretty tempting. They waited for a few minutes and I heard one of them sigh "I told you she wasn't going to open the door until she's ready." Sebastian moved closer to the door "We're gonna go back downstairs come down when you're ready, we love you Clary."

That did it, hearing Sebastian tell me that they loved me made me loose it. I started crying, I was actually amazed that I held out for as long as I did. I buried my face in my pillow so they wouldn't hear me and I didn't even notice when they went back downstairs.

I finally was able to calm myself down a little and when I looked at the clock I was a little shocked, over a half an hour had passed. I still had tears running down my face and I decided that I was going to try to go back to sleep when I heard a knock on the door. I didn't think any of them would come up again I waited but whoever it was didn't say anything. They knocked again and I got off of the bed and moved towards the door waiting for them to say something, they didn't they just knocked again.

I really didn't want to talk to anyone but I was curious to see who was at the door so I asked, "Who is it?" I kept my voice low because I didn't want whoever it was to know I'd been crying. They didn't say anything they just knocked again. Dammit I so wasn't in the mood for this and apparently whoever it was wasn't go to say anything or go away until I opened the door. Sometimes people can be so damn frustrating why couldn't they just say something!

I decided that they weren't going to leave so I sighed and opened the door, not really caring that I probably looked like crap. When I saw who was on the other side of the door, when my eyes met his it was just way too much. I felt my legs give out but I didn't hit the floor like I was expecting to. He came into the room and caught me before I could fall then he picked me up and held me in his arms. I hated the way my body reacted to his touch after all this time.

He was carrying me towards the bed when I smacked his chest and said, "Put me down!" He didn't, he just kept staring at me, I waited for a minute and then I yelled "I said put me down!"

He snapped out of it and just gave me a smirk while he said, "Are you sure? I don't want you to collapse and hurt yourself."

He sounded so sweet, like he actually cared. It caught me off guard and some of my anger faded "I'm fine. I just didn't expect to see you, you caught me off guard. Just put me down, I promise I'm fine."

He finally put me down but kept his hand on my back and I felt that same charge of electricity flowing through my body that I always felt when he touched me. God it felt amazing and I wasn't any less potent after all this time either, if anything it was stronger. It was driving me crazy so I stepped away from him and the feeling disappeared but my body definitely remembered the sensation.

I didn't know what to say to him so I just stared at the bed. I could feel his eyes on me raking over my body, then I felt his hands gently touch my arms and he asked, "Are you all right?"

The moment he touched my skin I felt that electric shock jolt through me, even stronger because there weren't any barriers between our skin. I sucked in a breath, when I looked up my eyes locked with his and I couldn't look away. I felt his hands slowly moving up and down my arms, it felt amazing and I didn't want him to stop. In fact I wanted to feel his hands moving all over my body. Wait! I can't believe that I just thought that, I shouldn't be letting him touch me after everything that happened. I took a step back and his hands dropped as I said "Um . . . I'm fine. They don't hurt too badly, they're just bruises."

I moved even farther away from him a sat down on my bed. When I met his eyes again I remembered the last time we were alone together in my room and decided sitting on the bed was a very bad idea. I got up and started pacing as all of the memories started flooding into my mind without my permission. I thought about our childhood together, the first time he kissed me, all of the times we kissed and explored each other's bodies here in this room. The more the memories assaulted me the tenser I became and I knew it was only a matter of time before I exploded.

From the corner of my eye I could see Jace move towards the door, then he shut the door and locked. I couldn't believe he just did that "What are you doing?"

He just looked at me and said "Well if we're finally gonna talk I don't want an audience, do you?"

Typical, of course he didn't want an audience, heaven forbid they know what an ass he was before he left. I glared at while I asked, "What's the matter? Don't want them to hear about what you did?"

He didn't even flinch "I don't care if they know or not. All I care about is you."

Well that's a load of crap "Yeah right. You don't give a damn about me. I think you made that pretty clear when you left."

I could actually see pain in his eyes as he stared back at me "I'm sorry-"

That did it, how dare he "Sorry? Are you kidding me? Is that all you have to say? You're sorry! We were together, you were my other half. We spent all of our time together, no knew me like you! You were my first kiss, my first love and you just left!" My voice just started to get louder and louder and by the end I was yelling at him and the pain was almost unbearable.

I was trying not to break down again when I heard him say, "You're right and I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am. But I just couldn't do it."

What the hell is he talking about? "Do what?" I was surprised at how calm my voice was when I was feeling anything and everything but calm.

"Say goodbye to you." Oh please, yeah right. Does he really expect me to believe that crap? I was about to say exactly that but he beat me to it, "Please let me finish." Dammit, why should I? He doesn't deserve it, but maybe he'll finally explain what happened. Fine, he can talk; I just glared at him and crossed my arms over my chest waiting for him to continue. "When I found out we were moving I just couldn't believe it. My father told me we were leaving about a month before we left."

What the? A month before they left that was the last night we spent together. Oh my god "Is that why?"

I could see that he was confused by my sudden mood change and I could hear it in his voice when he asked "Why what?"

"That night we spent together, when we almost . . . the next day at school you were acting weird and I thought it was because you were mad at me or something. You know . . . because I didn't . . ." I trailed off as I thought about what had happened that night.

The others had all gone to a movie but we decided to stay home so we could spend some time alone together. We were here in my room, we started kissing and before I knew it we were both practically naked and moments away from having sex. I completely froze, it wasn't because I didn't want to or because I didn't love him because I did, but I was scared. I was only 13 and sex was a big step we hadn't even talked about it yet and we definitely weren't prepared like we should've been. He said he understood and that it was alright, then he looked at the clock and rushed home. The next day he was a total ass to me, he ignored me and avoided me whenever he could. I was sure that he had decided he hated me, that he thought I was a tease for leading him on and wanted nothing to do with me.

Next thing I knew he had his hands on my face "God no! Of course not, I completely understood why you stopped and I could never be mad with you because of that. I'm sorry, it's just I was so pissed with my father about the move and I wasn't really thinking about anything else." The moment I felt his touch my whole body relaxed and my desire for him was stronger than it had ever been before. God I wanted him, but I shouldn't, I needed to remember that he broke my heart. It didn't matter if I was wrong in my assumptions; he still left without saying goodbye.

I tried to clear my head and moved away from him "Oh. I thought, with the way you were avoiding me that you hated me because we stopped."

He moved closer to me again and his voice was like velvet when he said, "I could never hate you. In fact, I've replayed that night in my head so many times since I left." He looked like he'd died and gone to heaven as he thought about that night. When he looked into my eyes again he smirked and said, "It's one of my favorite memories."

Just thinking about that night, how his hands and lips had felt and they moved over my body had me blushing; the way he was looking at me wasn't helping either. It took so little effort on his part for my body to respond to him. He was just standing there staring at me with that cocky, sexy smile of his. Dammit! This can't happen, I shook my head to try and clear it then I yelled, "Stop that!"

I could see frustration flash in his eyes, but it was brief "Stop what?"

Like he didn't know what he was doing "Looking at me like that. I'm still mad at you! You don't get to come in here after all this time and smile and look at me like that and think I'll just forgive you!"

He just stood there for a minute thinking about what I said, but then it looked like he had made a decision about something and moved closer to me. "Lissa," Of God, that was the nickname he gave me and he was the only one who ever used it. I froze when I heard him softly it, just like he used to. "I'm so sorry for hurting you; I'll never be able to apologize enough. But I still love you, I never stopped loving you and I'm going to love you for the rest of my life. You were all I could think about while I was gone. I tried dating other girls but it never lasted because they weren't you. They worked as a distraction for a few days or weeks but then I was back to comparing them to you and I realized they just weren't good enough. They weren't what I wanted, what I needed, they weren't you." I was still frozen trying to process what he was saying and he moved closer to me and then I felt his hands against my face again, "Now that I'm back, I'm never leaving again. I can't think straight when I'm away from you, I can't breathe when you aren't close to me and it's like my heart is frozen because you're not in my life."

I couldn't help it, I started crying again. Why did he have such an affect on me? "Dammit, that's not fair!"

I could hear his laugh but the only thing I was focused on was the fact that he had moved even closer to me, I could feel his breath as he softly asked, "What's not fair?"

I looked down at his lips; they were just so damn close. Before I lost control and attacked his mouth I looked back into his eyes "You saying all of that to me. I just want to stay mad at you and keep you away so you can't break my heart again and then you say something sweet like that making it even harder for me."

He moved even closer and kissed both of my cheeks and it was like I couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes trying to calm myself down a little, it wasn't working. When I opened my eyes again and looked into his he said, "I will never hurt you again. I will do everything in my power to keep your heart safe. I love you Lissa and I don't want to live one more second of my life without you."

Oh God I loved it when he called me Lissa. I could tell that he meant every word that he said, but it was all up to me. Could I really forgive him? I mean now that I know what really happened, could I? As I looked into his eyes I realized that I wanted to. I still loved him, I still wanted him I never stopped and now he was back asking me to be his. I moved my hands to cup his face and he froze, I liked that I had such a strong affect on him "As much as I wish I didn't, I love you too. It scares me how much I love you, how much I missed you. When you realize that your heart belongs to someone else and they break it, it isn't something you get over easily."

He gave me one of his genuine and rare smiles "You're right. I gave you my heart a long time ago and you took much better care of it. But I swear to you, if it's within my power, I will never allow you to be hurt again."

His amber eyes were blazing while he told me that, he's so beautiful. I smiled at him and said "Good." Then I kissed him; I can't believe I had forgotten how amazing it felt to have his lips against mine. They were so soft and always moved perfectly with mine, nothing had changed. His hands slowly moved down my body, it felt like my skin was burning wherever he touched me. I used my hands to explore his body; I caressed his neck then moved on to his amazing chest, down to his toned abs. I was going to move even further south but thought better of it and moved my hands back up his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let my hands play with his hair. His hands ended up on my hips and he pulled me closer, I could feel every inch of his body against mine.

It felt absolutely amazing, I tugged on his hair and I heard him growl. When he moved away and lips moved to my neck I smirked, I couldn't help it. I loved that I could get those sounds out of him with such a simple thing. We started moving towards my bed and just as we were about to fall onto it someone knocked on the door. We pulled away and I could see the desire and lust in his eyes, he didn't want to stop and neither did I but the whoever it was probably wasn't going to leave. He moved away from me and I tried not to groan from the loss of his lips and hands on my body

Before we could get to the door someone started pounding on it, then we heard Izzy "What the hell! Open the damn door! We heard you guys yelling and now we can't hear anything. Are you guys still alive? Clary, did you kill Jace?"

He looked at me and smiled. I was about to say something but Magnus beat me to it "Yeah, we heard you yelling but unfortunately we couldn't hear exactly what you said. So you need to give us a play by play because I'm betting it was definitely a juicy, delicious little fight."

I smiled again while Jace opened the door "We're fine. See we're both breathing no blood or anything." Izzy was about to say something but I spoke before she could "Actually, now's not really a good time. We still have some stuff to talk about, so if you don't mind."

I can't believe he just did that, no wait I can. I was just glad that he did, I wanted to get back to the bed and finish what we had started before we were so rudely interrupted. The thought of his lips on my body brought a smile on my face. Jace looked at me again and before either of us could say anything we heard Izzy "If . . . if we don't mind?" Then she started pounding on the door again and yelled "Jace Herondale you open this damn door right this minute!"

The others started laughing; it was nice to see that things between them were the same. They were always arguing with each other, trying to push each other's buttons. It was definitely entertaining to watch sometimes. Jace's voice brought me back to the present "No! Just go back downstairs, we'll come down when were ready."

"Of all the . . . Clary are you all right? He's not keeping you locked up against your will is he?"

I started laughing, I couldn't help it "Of course I'm all right Iz. Besides, he couldn't keep me anywhere against my will even if he wanted to."

Jace turned towards me and his eyes had a mischievous gleam to them. He wrapped his arms around me and moved his mouth next to my ear then he whispered "Is that so?"

My whole body shivered when I felt his breath against my neck. I tried like hell to keep my voice even when I answered him, I didn't want him to know how he affected me "Is that so?" Dammit! I just had to sound all breathless and shaky didn't I?

It was a good thing the others went back downstairs because our hands went back to exploring each other's bodies. Although this time I moved my hands under his shirt, I wanted to feel the smooth skin and hard muscles of his body. I felt his lips on my neck again and then they made their way back to my lips. We needed to get back to the bed so I started pulling him towards it and he came willingly. I stopped kissing him for a second so I could take off his shirt and then we collapsed onto the bed. I straddled his lap and leaned down, my hands moved to his chest while my mouth attacked his neck. I took my time moving down his body and when I reached his nipples I decided I wanted to play with him and drive him crazy. I used my tongue to trace his left nipple for a little bit then I sucked his nipple into my mouth; finally I used my teeth to give him a little bite. I knew he was enjoying himself because the moment my tongue touched his body his hands moved to my hair and I could hear his moans. When I was done with his left nipple I moved on to the right and repeated the process.

When I was done with his chest I used my tongue to trace the lines of his abs, God he tasted amazing. Before I could move much farther he pulled me up to face him and attacked my lips. While we were kissing I felt his hands move under my shirt. It felt unbelievable, his hands on my bare skin, I couldn't stop the moan that escaped my lips and the higher his hands moved the louder I was. He pulled back and I was about to scream at him but it was only so he could remove my shirt. We were only separated for a few seconds but it was a few seconds too long. Once my shirt was gone I attacked his lips again and moved my hands to his hair and pulled harder than I did last time. I was pleased with the groan that I received in response.

The next thing I knew he was on top of me and his lips were moving down my neck. The moment I felt his lips on my collarbone I lost control, I just couldn't stop myself. My legs wrapped themselves around his hips and I pulled tighter on his hair. The sensations that his lips and hands were sending through my body almost made me feel like it was too much, like I was going to burst at any moment and I loved every second of it.

He stated to move his mouth down my body to my breasts, when I felt his tongue I moaned and rolled my hips against him. Then I felt his hardened length against my thigh and excitement shot through me, the fact that I could do that to him was intoxicating. I couldn't stand not being able to feel his lips against mine anymore so I pulled his face to mine. I deepened the kiss and my reward was Jace grinding his pelvis into mine, "Jace," I wanted to say more, to tell him not to stop but his name was the only thing I was coherent enough to utter.

I started moving my hands down his body again and when I reached his perfect, muscular ass I squeezed. Then I heard him say "Oh God Clary. Do you have any idea what you do to me?"

Of course I do. Instead of answering him I just smirked and began to move my lips down his neck. He moved his hands back to my breasts but they didn't stay there for long, he started to move them around to my back. When he reached the clasp of my bra my brain started to function again. I realized what we were about to do, "Jace, wait. Stop."

He pulled away from me immediately and I could see the concern in his eyes, "What's wrong? Did I hurt you or something?"

Did he hurt me? Why would he think that? "God no. The exact opposite. But . . . we just . . . we need to stop." I was barely able to get the words out. I definitely didn't want to stop, but this just wasn't the right time for us to be doing this.

He just smirked at me, obviously he could see the indecision in my eyes "Are you sure you want to stop? Things were just starting to get good."

Instead of attacking his lips again, so I could remove that smirk I just rolled my eyes at him "Want to? No. Do I think we should? Yes."

He was still lying on top of me and the feel of his body against mine was making it hard to think straight so I gave him a push and he rolled off of me. Once we were both sitting up and facing each other he asked "Why?"

That was a damn good question, for a moment all I could feel was loss and pain because his body was no longer touching mine. Then I remembered that there were several reasons we had to stop "For so many reasons."

He looked worried when he asked "Such as?"

How should I put this, how would he take it? I took a deep breath, looked away from him and said "Well for one, you just came back into my life today. I mean, part of me is saying that this is wrong. I mean . . . not too long ago I pretty much hated you for breaking my heart." I looked into his eyes and my mind flashed back to how it felt when his hands and mouth were exploring my body, God I wanted him. "Another part is telling my rational side to shut up and let you take me any way you want to."

From the look on his face I knew that my temporary mood change along with my words definitely didn't go unnoticed. He moved his hand to my cheek and I leaned into his touch feeling that electric charge pulse through my body again. I was trying to stop my body from shivering when he said "Well, if you want my opinion-"

"I know perfectly well which side your on." I smiled and kissed the palm of his hand feeling like I needed to give him more of an explanation. "I'm not saying that I don't want you." My eyes locked with his again "God, I want you so much it scares me. Another reason that we shouldn't be doing this right now is because all of our friends and my brother are downstairs waiting for us."

"You're right."

"And I want my first time to be a little more special. I definitely don't want to have to deal with my brother and all of our friends minutes after you take my virginity."

He gave me one of his rare genuine smiles and said "And you take mine."

I can't believe he'd lie to me right now, "That's not very nice."

"What?"

What? Is he kidding me? Like he really needs to protect from his past or something, I'm a big girl. Girls have always wanted him and with teenage male hormones coursing through him I'd be stupid to think that he wouldn't take advantage of any girl who offered. "You lying to me. I appreciate it and everything but I'm not stupid."

He slowly moved closer to me and then we were lying on the bed again and he was on top of me. He leaned he head closer and whispered in my ear "Clary, sure I've fooled around with other girls but I'm a virgin, just like you."

I was too shocked to say anything other than "Really?"

He kissed me before he said "Clary, I did date a lot of girls, I'm not going to lie about that. I tried to use them to distract me from you, and no, I'm not completely innocent, but I never had sex with any of them. A lot of them would have gladly gone there with me but I just couldn't do it."

Well, that doesn't make any sense "Why not?"

He snickered and rolled his eyes, like my question was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard "They all had the same problem."

Uh-huh sure, "And what's that?"

His lips were only inches away from mine and his eyes smouldered into mine as he said "They weren't you."

They weren't me? I was always the one he wanted? Ok, if I'm dreaming I hope I never wake up. I couldn't stand the fact that his lips were so close but still seemed miles away. I didn't wait for him to close the distance, I pressed my lips to his and ran my tongue along his bottom lip begging for entrance. He granted it immediately and things started heating up all over again. I groaned at the feeling of our toungues playing as I explored his mouth. I moved my hands to his hair and pulled again while I broke the kiss and moved my mouth to his ear "That isn't fair."

He laughed as he pulled back so he could see my face "It's the truth, so it's completely fair."

I was so focused on how his face lit up when he laughed that it took me a moment to realize he was moving away from me and leaving the bed. "Hey! What are you doing?"

He laughed but seemed preoccupied with something "Did you forget everyone is waiting for us?"

Damn! He chooses now to remember? I felt my cheeks heat as I realized just how much I didn't want to stop. All I could say was "Oh, right."

I got up and quickly put my shirt back on. Then I heard "Clary?"

I turned to look at him but I couldn't look at his face, I just couldn't move my eyes away from his body. Then flashes of my mouth and hands moving over his smooth, toned muscles had me blushing again. I vaguely remembered he asked me something but I couldn't remember what so I said "Huh?"

"Clary?"

Damn! I so needed to stop staring, my eyes flew to his and my face heated again. Great, my cheeks probably matched the color of my hair by now. "Sorry." Ok, I'm not sorry I could stare at his body for hours.

He just smirked and said "Don't be, you know if you want to touch me you can."

Cocky bastard "Oh shut up!"

He laughed again before he asked "Have you seen my shirt? I can't find it?"

His shirt? "Um . . . last I saw it-"

He interrupted me before I could finish "You were taking it off of my body and throwing it across the room?"

Great, I was blushing again "Shut up!" I noticed his shirt so I turned to pick it up then I threw it at him.

Unfortunately he put his shirt back on covering up that perfect body of his. Then I started thinking about everything that had happened. We hadn't really talked about what any of it meant yet so my mind was going a mile a minute thinking about all of the possibilities. Not all of them good. I must have looked worried or something because when Jace looked at me he walked up to me and cupped my face between his hands. "What's wrong?"

My eyes met his and I asked "So where does this leave us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," I moved my eyes away from his and they landed on the bed "We just got pretty hot and heavy, and I was just wondering . . ."

I don't know why I couldn't finish but I didn't need to because he kissed me again. When we finally pulled away he said, "We're together. You're mine and I'm yours, just like it's always been. Only now it's official."

That's what I was hoping to hear, but what were we going to say to our friends and my brother. "What should we tell the others?"

"Whatever you want. Just as long as you tell them enough so I can touch you and kiss you without them freaking out."

I laughed, of course he would be worried about that. Then I thought of the perfect idea "How about I tell the girls and you can tell the guys?"

He didn't like that idea very much, I knew he wouldn't "Lovely. I get to tell your brother."

Maybe I should make it up to him. I smirked at him while I moved my hands down his body and I brushed them over his member, which hardened instantly. He growled and grabbed my hips to pull me closer as he said "That's not fair."

I moved my hands to his hips thrust my pelvis against his to see how far I could push him. "You're right, it's not." I moved my mouth to his neck and licked my way to his ear then I whispered "Too bad." I pulled away and walked to the door, I started to head downstairs when I noticed he wasn't with me. I turned to look at him and asked "Aren't you coming?"

He rolled his eyes and said "In a minute."

What? Why? Then it hit me, my eyes moved down his body and I couldn't help but laugh at his situation, a situation that I had caused. I walked towards him and said, "I'm sorry." I moved closer to him then I wrapped my arms around his back a pressed into him. "Is there anything I can do to help?" And I do mean anything."

He just glared at me "There are a lot of things you can do, but since everyone is waiting for us I think the best solution is for you to stand over there." He jerked his chin to the other side of the room to show me where he wanted me.

I moved away from him and laughed. Then I gave him my best smoldering look and said "If that's what you want."

He nearly growled when he said "You know damn well that isn't what I want."

It's not what either of us want. I felt myself smile at the thought and I said "You're right, I do. Maybe I should stop teasing you."

He walked up to me and whispered in my ear "You know Lissa, pay backs a bitch."

Well, that didn't sound good. He laughed at my involuntary intake of breath and went downstairs where the others were waiting for us.

* * *

**A/N: Ok - originally this was all the same chapter but as my fabulous new beta said it's kinda confusing, so it was suggested that I just add it in as a bonus chapter - so here ya go - let me know what you think!**


	6. ANChapter 5 Preview

**AN: Okay so school and work have been a bitch and I haven't had much time to write but I'm almost done with the next chapter. I just have to finish and send it off to my Beta and then it'll be posted. In the mean time I thought I'd give you a little teaser.**

**Disclaimer :** I don't own anything - except the plot line, that's all me ;)

**Chapter 5 : **

**- Jace's POV -**

It didn't take long for her to recover and catch up to me on the stairs. I grabbed her hand and held it tightly in mine, it probably wasn't a good idea considering who we were going to face but I just didn't care. I finally had her back, she was finally mine again and I didn't give a damn who knew. I wasn't exactly sure how the others were gonna respond to everything or if we were going to tell them everything that happened in the past. I decided to just let Clary take the lead there; if she wanted them to know then we would tell them. Of course, them finding out what an ass I was wouldn't go over too well, but whatever Clary wants she'll get. God I'm such a pansy when it comes to her.

I was brought back to the present by Izzy "It's about damn time. What the hell happened up there? Why the hell are you two in such a good mood? Clary I thought you hated him? And why the hell are you holding hands?"

Her voice had steadily gotten louder and louder as she kept questioning us. Who knows how much longer she would have screeched at us but Simon stopped her. He stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her down on to the couch next to him.

Clary spoke up before I could "God Izzy, are you trying to make us all go deaf?" We all laughed and Izzy glared at us.

"Well, isn't this fun? Anywho, while all of her questions are rather important there is only one that is vital. So darlings, do tell, why are you holding hands hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?"

If it weren't for the situation we had found ourselves in I would've probably laughed at Magnus' question. Instead I looked down to Clary and found her staring back at me, both of us trying to figure out what to say. Our little exchange definitely didn't go unnoticed by the others because before we could decide what to do Jon jumped up and growled "You better answer the damn question Wayland!"

My eyes snapped to his, well that was new. "What he hell man?"

"Don't even try it! You need to tell us what the hell is going on between you and my sister. No more stalling, no more bullshit! Start talking! Now!"

I didn't get why he was so pissed. He had already made it clear that he didn't have a problem with Clary and I being together so his anger took me completely by surprise. Before I could think of what to say to calm him down I heard Clary's voice "Calm down Jon. Why don't you sit back down and we'll answer your questions."


End file.
